Seams & Edges
How to Sew a French Seam
A French seam hides every raw edge inside a tidy little fold, so the inside of your dress looks as considered as the outside. It's our favourite finish for lightweight and sheer fabrics — no overlocker required, just two passes through the machine.
You'll sew the first seam with wrong sides together (yes, really), then flip and enclose it. Here's how.
You'll need
- — Your two fabric pieces, edges aligned
- — A sewing machine + matching thread
- — An iron (your most important tool here)
- — Sharp scissors or a rotary cutter
Step by step
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Pin wrong sides together
Place your two pieces with the wrong sides facing each other and the raw edges level. This feels backwards — trust it. Pin along the seam line.
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Sew a narrow seam
Stitch a scant 5 mm (¼") from the raw edge. This is smaller than your pattern's seam allowance — that's intentional, it leaves room for the second pass.
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Trim and press open
Trim the seam allowance down to about 3 mm so no whiskers will peek out later. Press the seam flat, then open.
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Fold right sides together
Now fold along the seam so the right sides are together, with the seam you just sewed sitting exactly on the folded edge. Press crisply.
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Sew the enclosing seam
Stitch 8 mm from the folded edge, encasing those raw edges inside. Add your first 5 mm and you've matched a standard 1.3 cm allowance.
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Press to one side
Open it out and press the finished seam to one side. Turn it over — a clean, raw-edge-free seam, hidden away like a secret.
If a stray thread pokes through after the second seam, your first seam was a touch too wide — trim a little closer next time. A sharp press at every step matters more than a perfect stitch.
Patterns that use this
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